If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Announcement

Collapse

No announcement yet.

Missing Malaysian Airlines B777

Collapse

X

Collapse

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

Missing Malaysian Airlines B777

8th March 2014, 01:07

News breaking from Kuala Lumpur, a Malaysian Airlines 777-200 with 239 souls on board is missing over the South China Sea. Flight MH370 bound for Beijing was due to land at 22:30 GMT on Friday (7th March) evening but all communications with the airliner have been lost. A search and rescue mission is currently underway.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26492748

Comment

Oh dear. Very worrying and sad news. SAR operations have begun.
It's mysterious how this incident happened. According to BBC News/CNN.com, the aircraft, a 777-200 was not particularly old at 11+ years, the captain was extremely experienced (joined MAS 1981) and the weather conditions were benign.
Also, apparently no mayday messages were sent/received.
What are the possible causes of a sudden catastrophic incident whilst cruising in good weather with no warning like this?

Comment

Did this happen at night? Flight over the sea at night can be a funny thing. There have been several incidents involving aircraft that flew into the sea and without a distress call.
Also have to consider major structural failure or fuel explosion.
Of course all of this is academic to the families involved.

Comment

Separately, it has been reported that two passengers who were listed on the plane's manifest - an Italian and an Austrian - were not actually on the flight but had had their passports stolen in the past two years in Thailand.

Comment

Here are the facts so far:
The airplane reached cruising altitude without a squeak.
It was in an area of good coverage of a large number of ADS-B receivers.
It disappeared abruptly.
There was no mayday call.
As far as I can ascertain there were no ADS-B returns indicating a descent of any sort.
No ACARS transmissions have been reported.
There is a fuel slick in the sea (which, if as a result of a plane hitting the water, the plane would have been largely intact upon impact).
There were two individuals on board using stolen passports.

Comment

I just read a piece of info via a link on airliners.net that states that a US military base stationed in Thailand picked up a Mayday call from the B777 and there was mention that the cabin was disintegrating and they wanted to make a forced landing.

Comment

In truth, it is beginning to look like a terrorist attack. The B777 is probably the world's safest airliner statistically, the weather was perfect, there were two false passport holders on the aircraft and five whose luggage was loaded but who did not board...

Of course, all at the moment is pure speculation but there does seem a weight of probability developing in one direction.

RIP all those on board and may God be with their friends and families at this tragic time.

Comment

I'd be very surprised if this crash turned out to be terrorist related, in this day and age where security meticulously scan and re-scan passengers I just can't see it happening (Kuala Lumpur is hardly a shanty airport in central Kenya, the security screening meets international standards and is the same everywhere in the world) - I'm sure the issue of the false passports will turn out to be one for immigration authorities to scratch their heads over rather than as a lead for the FBI. The two are probably unrelated but it's, of course, being played up by the media.

If we learnt anything from AF447, it's that previous safety records are there to be broken. The 777 is a reliable, safe, aircraft no doubt about it but sometimes incidents just happen (there are over 1,000 of them in operation). I agree with DXB, I think it was a sudden structural failure which either blew the aircraft apart there and then, or a structural failure which led to a great loss of control rendering it un-flyable.

I don't believe the aircraft turned back towards Malaysia as is being reported, because if they had enough time to make a rational decision as a crew to turn back then they probably had enough time to send out a distress signal (unless they lost communication as a result of a possible structural failure).

Although one thing is for sure, we won't really know what went on until they find and analyse those black boxes, so let's hope they can.